Teacher gets 4 years for killing policeman

Teacher gets 4 years for killing policeman

JAKARTA (JP): Baskoni Wahab, the teacher tried for killing a
police major, went pale on Tuesday when the East Jakarta District
Court sentenced him to four years imprisonment.

The defendant, a teacher for a private economics high school
in Cawang, East Jakarta, collapsed after the judge completed
reading the verdict. He was taken from the courthouse in an
ambulance.

Judge Toni Hartono, who presided over the trial, said that the
50-year-old defendant was found guilty of killing Maj. Noenang
Kohar on Jl. Wismajaya, East Jakarta, on Oct. 14.

The judge said that witnesses' testimony and material evidence
proved that Baskoni stabbed Noenang in the stomach.

The post mortem examination report from Cipto Mangunkusumo
Hospital stated that Noenang's death was caused by a wound to the
stomach.

Visitors, 70 of them Baskoni's relatives and colleagues,
packed the courtroom to hear the sentence.

Prosecutor Bonar Gultom previously demanded that the court
sentence Baskoni to eight years.

'Dog'

The prosecutor said that Baskoni shouted "dog" at Noenang when
the major's Daihatsu Taft passed the bajaj (three-wheeled transit
vehicle) he was riding in.

Noenang then tried to stop the bajaj, but Baskoni asked the
driver to proceed, Gultom said. Noenang followed the bajaj and
cut off it on Jl.Wismajaya.

When Noenang slapped Baskoni, Baskoni parried and stabbed the
victim in his stomach with a knife, the prosecutor said.

"What the defendant has done violated Article 354 of the
Criminal Code," the judge said on Tuesday.

By carrying a knife with him everywhere, the defendant could
hurt other people at any time, he said.

The defendant's regret over the unpremeditated murder and his
being 50 years old was taken into consideration in handing down a
lighter sentence than requested, the judge said.

Maj. Noenang Kohar was chief of the Pademangan police
subprecinct in North Jakarta. He was on the way home when the
incident happened.

The lawyers for the defendant said they would probably appeal.
(29)